The digitalization of children's money in Kazakhstan has been rapid: today, a school student with a Kaspi Gold or Halyk card is an everyday norm. Banking ecosystems have become a bridge between parent and child, offering tools for control, instant transfers, and even motivation through school grades (Kundelik integration). But while for some this is a convenient way to hand out lunch money, for others it is an untapped potential for raising a future investor.
What is this research about?
In this research, we conducted in-depth interviews with Kazakhstanis to study their experience interacting with banking ecosystems.
In this article, we analyze children's finance services:
- How do parents control their children's spending and what limits do they set?
- Why does integration with school grades cause delight for some and irritation for others?
- What prevents children's cards from becoming a full-fledged financial education tool?
Below is a detailed breakdown of five archetypes defining the children's fintech landscape in Kazakhstan.
😐 Normies
For them, a children's card is part of the daily household routine. The main goal is for the child to always have money for the cafeteria or transport, and for the parent to be able to check it quickly.
Children's finances (Rating: 6/10)
Kaspi and Halyk tools solve basic tasks, but technical flaws prevent giving the highest score. The Kundelik integration in Halyk is perceived as a useful but "raw" feature.
Quote: "In Kaspi, I track my daughter's transactions, I see her account and balance right next to mine. It's convenient that you can limit online payments."
Behavior: They regularly transfer pocket money, track the child's balance in their app, and use the card blocking feature in case it is lost. They often set up automatic payouts for grades if the technical stability of the service allows.
Blockers and barriers
- Technical instability of synchronization: The main unique blocker is errors in the "Kundelik — Bank" connection. When money for grades is sent in a batch for the week or the card "unlinks" by itself, the normie loses interest in the feature.
- Information vacuum on transactions: Parents lack smart push notifications about "threshold" amounts. They want to know not about every chewing gum purchase, but about when the child spent a large amount at once.
- Lack of educational content: Services provide a spending tool but do not explain to the child (and parent) how to manage it. For normies, this turns the card into just a "plastic wallet."
🤑 Pragmatists
Rational users who look for benefits in everything. In the children's finance category, they feel left out, as banks offer almost no "hunting" scenarios here.
Children's finances (Rating: 4/10)
For them, children's cards are an "empty" product. They do not see cashbacks, promotions, or special rates here that would motivate them to choose a specific bank for their child.
Quote: "in Kaspi I was always bothered by their dark past... I understand they have improved, but I haven't liked them since" (shows that even Kaspi's basic children's services do not evoke a desire to "hunt" for additional benefits).
Behavior: They use children's cards situationally and without enthusiasm. They might give the child cash or make a transfer from any card, seeing no point in opening a specialized children's account without bonuses.
Blockers and barriers
- Lack of a reward system for savings: A unique blocker is the absence of an increased interest rate on the children's account balance or bonuses for "goal-oriented" savings (for example, for a gaming console). The pragmatist sees no point in teaching a child to save in a bank if it is not profitable.
- Zero cashback in "children's" categories: The lack of special conditions for purchases in toy stores or amusement parks makes the children's card useless plastic in the eyes of a pragmatist.
- Utilitarian barrier: Perceiving the children's card solely as a convenient tool for "oversight" and control, rather than a means of financial benefit, which reduces the product's value for the segment.
🥸 Old-schoolers
This segment values simplicity of management. It is important for them to see the child's balance "in one click" and be able to quickly block the card without delving into complex settings.
Children's finances (Rating: 6/10)
The basic functionality of Kaspi and Halyk falls into their comfort zone, as it does not require a deep dive into technology. It is enough for them that the child's card is "visible" in their profile.
Quote: "In Halyk, I don't get too involved in all this, the amount available to the child is simply visible there, and I can block it."
Behavior: They use only the simplest features: transferring and viewing the balance. They almost never go into limit settings and do not use the integration with the electronic diary, considering it an unnecessary complication.
Blockers and barriers
- Overload of additional options: A key unique blocker is the difficulty of finding basic card management features (for example, changing the PIN code or blocking) within an overloaded parent app.
- Demographic and digital divide: Complete ignorance of the service due to the lack of a relevant need (no minor children) or unwillingness to figure out how the new interface works.
- Fear of "clicking the wrong thing": Due to the abundance of limit settings (internet sessions, geo-restrictions), they often do not touch them at all, leaving the child's account unprotected.
🧐 The Financially Literate
Controllers and planners who place high hopes on banking services for educating children, but in reality receive only limited functionality.
Children's finances (Rating: 2/10)
The lowest rating due to the huge gap between expectations and reality. They want to see the bank as a tool for raising a future investor, but find only a "cafeteria card."
Quote: "In BCC, absolutely everything is spelled out (about one's own expenses), but not a word about children's investments or literacy."
Behavior: They actively maintain their own accounting and investments in BCC or Freedom, but for children, they are forced to use Kaspi/Halyk due to their prevalence in schools, while constantly criticizing the lack of serious savings tools.
Blockers and barriers
- Lack of children's investment accounts: The main unique blocker is the inability to open a sub-account for a child to buy stocks or bonds ("for an apartment by age 18"). Banks do not offer tools for long-term family planning.
- Information vacuum on limits: An acute demand for smart push notifications upon reaching threshold amounts to distinguish a child's everyday spending from potentially dangerous expenses.
- Inability for joint control: A blocker is the difficulty of setting up access for the second parent so that both spouses can see the child's spending and manage it in real time.
😡 The Burned
People with negative experiences that they also project onto their children. For them, opening a children's card is a potential risk of dragging the child into a "problematic" bank.
Children's finances (Rating: 3/10)
Trust in children's services is undermined by personal problems with the bank. They fear that a technical glitch or their own debt could lead to the blocking of the child's card at the most inopportune moment.
Quote: "In Kaspi, I was always bothered by their dark past with microloans... I understand they have improved, but I haven't liked them since" (this carries over to children's accounts).
Behavior: They use children's cards minimally, trying not to keep amounts there for more than one day. They often prefer giving the child cash, considering it a more reliable way "not to depend on the bank's glitches."
Blockers and barriers
- Fear of "mutual liability": A unique blocker is the fear that the bank might debit money from the children's account to pay off the parent's debt (even if legally this is not the case, the fear persists).
- Negative brand image: If a parent had a bad experience with the bank's support, they do not want their child to get used to this brand and become its loyal user in the future.
- Risk of blocking during a glitch: The fear that due to a processing error (as happened in Freedom), the child might be left without money at school or in transport, unable to contact the bank on their own.
Final summary
Children's finances in Kazakhstan are currently at the "digital wallet" stage. Banks have successfully solved the task of transferring money but have barely touched the layer of financial education and investments. The ecosystem that wins will be the first to offer parents not just control, but a tool for jointly planning the child's future: from children's investment portfolios to high-quality gamification of money education.
